Ghost and Gossamer
by MinisterCV
Summary: Inari's life had been going downhill ever since she could remember. Maybe all she needs is a new beginning. OC x OC pair. M for language and violence. Maybe some lemons later on.
1. Chapter 1

This was her last chance and she knew it. Not to say that she was a horrible ninja, it was just that she had made a couple of clumsy mistakes in the past. Now was her last chance to prove her worth to her squad and captain.

They waited in the dense limbs of the trees in the forest overlooking a worn down trail. The plan was to ambush the incoming merchant convoy and steal their valuables and a chest of which they had received intel on. It was supposed to contain over half the fortune of a wealthy family inside. A quick in and out job for this squad, but things don't always go as planned.

At first it seemed to be going smoothly but then the shouts of her teammates shattered everything. It seemed that this merchant wasn't taking any chances and had hired a couple of ninja of his own. There were only three of them seven in her squad including her captain, so she wasn't too worried. She had seen her captain in action several times and was confident in his abilities to deal with any skilled ninja above her current level.

"Fuck!" he said as he grasped his arm which had been just cut with a kunai. "Inari, get over here" he yelled as she ran towards him. Inari questioned him on where he had been hurt. "The arm you dumb bitch, where the blood is coming from!" She ignored this comment and got to work with her medical jutsu.

Just as she was finishing up she felt a spear of fire pass right through her leg. "AAAAHHHHHH" screamed Inari as she looked down and discovered that a kunai had entered her thigh and exited out the other side. She knew human physiology well enough, and she immediately realized that from the amount of blood coming out that an artery had been hit. She'd had to fix it fast or risk the chance of passing out or dying. "Inari! Get over to Katsuo and help him out!" screamed her captain but it was too late. A wave of panic and fear had overtaken Inari as she fled from the fight half jumping/half limping.

The enemy ninja that had thrown that kunai saw that Inari was their healer-nin and knew that it would be quite a blow to them if she was dead and pursued Inari with deadly intent. _**I don't want to die; I don't want to die **_Inari thought to herself as she ran. Another spear of fire hit her in her side as yet another yell escaped from her mouth. She tripped over something but just as quickly got up and kept on running. She never noticed that this something rustled and murmured a couple of expletives. He was having such a good nap too.

Inari was losing blood fast and she knew it. Her vision was blurring and her reaction time was increasing. Making it through this forest was becoming more and more of a chore every second. The newest reincarnation of pain hit in her in the other leg. As Inari went down, she examined her situation. Stranded in the middle of nowhere, bleeding to death, with a hostile ninja somewhere behind her. Things weren't looking too good right now. Breathing heavily, she started to crawl in a vain attempt to escape her pursuer. _**Not like this…..I don't want to die like this….. **_she mentally repeated to herself. But it was at this moment that her chaser appeared right in front of her.

"Found ya, whore" he said as he kicked her as hard in the chest as he could. Inari coughed up some blood and managed to meagerly reply "please….don't….I didn't do anything"

"Fuck you. You picked the wrong people to attack bitch" replied the ninja as he began to eye her up and down. She wasn't exactly what he preferred but he wasn't going to be picky now. Inari had long straight black hair with a pair of gorgeous hazel almond eyes and a nice body for a 17 year old. "You aren't too bad looking you know. Lets have some fun first." Inari was always told that this could happen to her if a battle somehow went bad but she never wanted to believe it. A deep fear sank in that something worse than death was going to happen to her. She grabbed one of her kunai and slashed wildly, barely wounding the veteran ninja. "Hmmm, it's a shame. You would have been a nice piece of ass in a couple of years…." was the last thing Inari heard before he disappeared and felt a cold sharp piece of metal pressed against her throat. "Say goodnight" he said.

That phrase reverberated in her mind as she felt a blinding pain as her neck erupted in fire. Inari grasped her throat with her hands as she desperately tried to mend the gaping wound in her neck. She knew it was pointless but she didn't want to accept the fact that she was going to die. _**I don't want to die, I don't want to die, **__**I don't want to die, **__**I don't want to die….. **_was being repeated inside of her head. The last thing she remembered was the shadow of someone standing above her and his eyes. His cold dead eyes contained no life, no warmth, no nothing. Just not wanting to care anymore, she let herself fall into the warm embracing darkness that was calling out to her.

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The sleeping heap that had been awoken got up and lazily but quietly followed the source of the noises that he had been hearing. Just as he landed in a fairly large tree he heard, "Say goodnight" and saw the flash of metal. He watched as a ninja cut the neck of a teenager girl. She gurgled as she bled to death all the while trying to heal herself pointlessly. He waited for a little bit after the ninja had jumped away to wherever he had been before he approached the dying girl.

He stood over her with a look of slight pity and remorse. She had woken him from his slumber and now look at her; bleeding to death in the middle of a god-damned forest. Some one just wasn't having a very good day. He laughed to himself and started contemplating whether or not to help the female on the ground. He could hear the sounds of another fight somewhere in the forest and concluded that she must be from that conflict.

Concluding that her comrades might be thankful if she was brought back to them alive, he decided he might as well help her. Getting down on his knees next to her he pulled off his gloves and began to work his medical jutsu magic. His first priorities were her neck and then her leg wounds. After an hour of operation, he was finished. There were large scars where the wounds used to be. He had some difficulty with her neck because the incision had damaged her voice box and he had never dealt with that before. He just tried his best and hoped that he had repaired it successfully. The mysterious stranger was pleased to see that some color was returning to his patient and that she was beginning to breathe normally. He picked her up in her arms and headed in the direction where the sounds had been coming from. They had stopped quite some time ago, so he figured that the battle had been won by whomever and just hoped he wouldn't have to deal with anyone else.

After a quick trip with the girl in his arms, he came upon the merchant convoy. Numerous people were dead including three ninjas crucified upon near trees. The stranger recognized one of the crucified ninja as the one that attacked the girl he had healed. Assuming that she was part of the group that won, the stranger decided to return her to her people. He looked around and saw that everything of value had been stolen and carted off to some unknown location. That made things a whole lot easier for him; just follow the cart's tracks. So off he went, girl clutched to his chest, as he strolled along to Inari's teammates.


	2. Chapter 2

"That went a little different than I had expected" Captain Kiku barked as he rested his feet upon a chair. "So, what are our losses?"

"Ryuu is dead and Inari is MIA, presumed dead" Katsuo replied back to his superior. "Bahh, she deserved what she got, that damn bitch." Kiku drunkenly replied "She ran away and got what a coward deserves, death. What are our spoils from that raid?" "Several hundred gold coins, couple rolls of silk cloth and numerous other little trinkets like jewelry etc. etc."

"Sounds worth it to me. Hey servant! More sake!" Kiku yelled at one of his many servants and slaves. He was the son of a very wealthy man in this town and commanded a lot of power. His family ruled the town they lived in permitting only what they agreed with. Nothing happened here without their approval. Kiku and his squad divvied up their loot and prepared for a nice night out on the town. It was then that the door to their lounge was slid open and a strange man with a girl in his arms walked on in.

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The walk had only taken about 2 hours but when you're carrying a girl for that whole time, it gets to you. He was just glad to know that this whole thing would be over and he wouldn't have to carry this girl anymore. As he strolled into town he noticed that a lot of people seemed moving around, talking to each other.

"Did you hear?" "Yeah, Kiku came back with a whole chest of treasure" "Not that they need anymore" "Bet he's just going to waste it away" "That's a surprise"

He decided that this Kiku fellow was the one who stole all of the merchant stuff and would be the most likely one to know who this girl is. As he approached one of the gossiping citizens, they shut up immediately as soon as they noticed him. They stared at himall the way until he asked them "Where can I find Kiku?"

The two citizens looked at each other in disbelief for a second then answered "What, you're kidding right?" The stranger just shook his head. "Man, where are you from. Kiku lives in the middle of town in the huge ass mansion, you can't miss it."

The stranger thanked the two and left them to their gossip. He followed what he figured to be the main road into the heart of town. It seemed that gossip traveled faster than he did. It seemed that the more he walked, the more people just stood outside of their homes and stores just to stare and him and whisper to each other. He reached the center of town and looked around. Store, store, fountain, store, mansion, store……Jackpot! The most lavish entrance he had every seen was right off to his left. He could see above the lavish walls was a mansion four stories tall. After making sure that there was no other huge ass mansion around him, he headed toward the gates. Not wanting to bring up any alarms, the strange man decided to just bypass the whole thing and jump the wall directly into a 2nd story window. Now all he had to do was find where this "Kiku" fellow was at. So he picked a hallway and a direction and started to search room by room.

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The first thing that Inari was aware of was the warmth and the comfort she was in. The rhythmic bobbing and warmth of the blanket wrapped around her had a very sedative effect on her. She barely even realized that she was being carried by someone. All that she cared about was staying this comfy forever so she snuggled in closer. She fell asleep for who knows how long but that brief moment of heaven would end soon. The bobbling stopped and then there was a very brief period of silence. She immediately came to her senses as she heard a familiar voice yelling "Who the fuck are you!'

Inari snapped her eyes open only to see the black clothing of the man carrying her. She looked up and stiffened as she saw it was those same dead eyes that she saw before she passed out. Then everything came back to her. The attack, the pain, the fear, and then…………the eyes. Inari's fear came back and she started wiggling to get free. Her captor noticed this and set her upright upon her feet. Inari unwrapped herself from the blanket and dashed into the farthest corner only then turning around to look. He was tall, maybe six foot, with messy brown hair. From what she could tell, he was a quite handsome man maybe a year older than her. The only thing that disturbed her was his eyes.

His eyes were white with a scar running diagonally through the left one. They had no feeling to them, just a dead stare that never seemed to lose its intensity. Inari then took the time to focus on the other features of his face. He didn't just have one scar on his face but many. _**What the hell happened to this guy? **_Inari wondered but was cut off by the inquiry of her captain.

"I said, who, the fuck, are YOU!" Kiku demanded as he stood up from his resting place and reached for a kunai. The stranger looked around for a moment with a slight look of confusion finally replying "She's yours, right? Thought you might want her back" "Maybe, but you didn't answer my fucking question, asshole! Who are you?!" Kiku was getting frustrated and impatient. People were known to disappear when Kiku got this way.

The man with dead eyes just looked at Kiku with a blank stare and answered, "No one. Goodbye." and turned around to exit. At this point Kiku lost it and gave a small signal and 6 kunai lodged themselves into the strangers back. He coughed up some blood as he turned around slowly. Inari watched in silent horror as her savior's eyes glazed over and went out of focus. He fell forward and never moved as a pool of blood formed around him.

'Dispose of the body Katsuo. I don't care how just as long as I never see him again." Kiku told one of his cronies as he walked toward Inari. "So bitch, finally decided to show your face here again?" Inari tried to reply but all she got was silence and a sharp pain in her throat. "I asked you a question whore! Answer me!" Kiku said as he approached her getting angrier by the second. Inari tried to plead with him, trying to tell him that she couldn't speak but that was the last chance she got. Kiku was tired of waiting and had decided her fate. He slapped her hard across the face as he told her "You're the lowest piece of scum I know. Not only do you desert us but you even refuse to answer my questions!"

Tears were forming in Inari's eyes as her rank was stripped away from her. "Take her to the servants quarters and teach her everything she's going to have to know" Kiku told one of his servants. As Inari was being escorted away, all of her ninja gear was removed. By now, Inari was in shock as she was led away by the servants looking at her former squad mates with pleas in her eyes. They all just ignored her as the door was shut behind her and was led toward her new duties as a servant.


	3. Chapter 3

Inari woke up with light in her eyes. The bloody sun was shining in through the window and hitting her right in the eyes. She decided that she might as well prepare for yet another days work. She got up and carefully maneuvered her way around the room being careful not to step on any of the other sleeping servants. Inari headed over to the small round mirror that they all shared. She saw a tired looking girl staring back at her in grey woolen clothes. She had been in this miserable condition for over a year now and no longer cared how she looked. All she wanted to do was to get through the day and hope that tomorrow would treat her better.

Inari quietly slid the door open and stepped out into the hallway and shut the flimsy door behind her. On her way to the kitchen she spotted Akiko, the head servant around here. She looked nervous and when she spotted Inari, she rushed over towards her. "Inari, what are you doing looking like that? Master's having a guest over today so we must look our best" Inari just nodded and headed back to prepare herself. Her voice had returned months ago but she found it easier just to not tell anyone and let them all believe that she was a mute. _**At least they won't ask me any dumb ass questions **_she thought as she headed back to the kitchen and Akiko

"Master" had been having "guests" over for some time now. Kiku's father, Lord Cho, had been enlisting mercenaries to deal with anyone he didn't like so today's guest was probably just another one of those mercenary ninjas looking to make some cash. Inari made sure that she looked proper by gazing at her reflection in the tea she was carrying and when she decided that she wouldn't be yelled at, she slid the door open to the meeting hall and took her place off to the side of a waiting Lord Cho. They didn't have to wait long until another servant announced from the other side of the large entrance doors "You visitor has arrived milord."

Lord Cho sat up straight and tried to look as imposing as possible. When he felt satisfied he replied "Let him in." Inari knew better than to look at the masters' guests directly unless ordered to so she kept he head down. As soon as the door had open she felt a chill sweep over the room. Her heart began to race fast as if she was scared to death. She heard no sounds as the figure made its way toward Lord Cho. Everything went just like all the others before him. Lord Cho welcomed him to his humble home, sat him down, handed him a sealed envelope with the mission details and a starting sum of cash to persuade him to do whatever the details inside told him to do.

Before the mercenary left, Lord Cho asked, "Would you like something to drink before you go?" Inari assumed he must have nodded because she never heard him yes but regardless Lord Cho beckoned her to server some tea. "Servant, serve our guest some tea." She hesitated for a moment and then proceeded to move toward the guest with her tray of tea being careful not to look at him in the face. She finished pouring the tea and bowed. When she began to stand back up she decided to take a quick peek at who the guest was. She was startled to see nothing except for a blank mask staring back at her.

There were no eye, nose, or mouth holes punched through the mask or anything painted on to represent them. It was just a slightly curved white oval underneath the black hood of the cloak. Inari locked up because it seemed that the figure seemed to be staring right back at her. Unfortunately this caused her to trip and spill all of the remaining tea and shatter all of the tea cups and pots. Realizing that she had just embarrassed her master in front of a guest she quickly began to clean up the mess she had created. _**Shit, shit, shit, shit. Kiku's going to be pissed at me…. **_Inari mentally screamed. Once she had cleaned up the spill, she rose bowed deeply in apology and shuffled back to the corner where she had been stationed before she was summoned to serve tea. Ignoring the horrified stares of her fellow servants and the looks of her master and guest, she sat back down, lowered her head, and acted like nothing happened. Inari hoped that that was the end of everything but it was not to be.

It was just as she lowered her head that Lord Cho's son got up and stormed across the room towards Inari. All she could do was sit still and hope that he wasn't head toward her. "Bitch! Look what you did!' Kiku yelled into Inari's ear as he pulled her up by her hair. He threw her to the ground and kicked her hard in the chest. "You bring shame upon your family. No wonder they ask us to take you in. They didn't want you to get stronger, they just wanted to dispose of their failure. Go wait in back until I find something for you to do"

Just as Inari stood up, Kiku's hand came and slapped her hard across the face. Hiding her tears, Inari picked up her tray and broken china and headed back to the kitchen. She could feel the stares of everyone burning holes into her and she walked back to the kitchen.


	4. Chapter 4

"Ah, my son, how did it go?" Cho asked his Kiku as he entered his father's chamber. "His title was well deserved. We didn't even detect him until he was within several meters of the house. Katsuo did a good job with the explosive seals though. Nothing could have survived a blast that big." Lord Cho smiled and laughed to himself. "Excellent. He could have become a problem later on. Hahaha…" The two laughed together as they drank a toast to celebrate the demise of the mercenary titled "The Ghost"

* * *

It had been a week since that shameful day in front of Lord Cho and his mysterious guest in the white mask. Inari's punishment included yet another beating from Kiku, after which she was thrown into a locked closet. It was only after 8 hours was she let out and sent to do more manual labor. Now Lord Cho was planning an outing to one of his favorite places out in the country to relax. Inari was ordered to help Akiko prepare the large amount of food for her master's trip. It was better than most chores she had to perform. At least she wasn't breaking her back sweeping the floors or dusting random shit inside of this mansion.

The next morning, Inari and several other servants traveled alongside Lord Cho's carriage to serve his every whim. It had been several hours into the trip when they came upon a bridge spanning a canyon with a roaring river down below. Lord Cho had always been paranoid about assassins so he always kept a couple of low level ninja around to guard him. Today was no different and Lord Cho had 4 ninja placed around him for guard. Inari could care less. It made no difference if Lord Cho was dead or not. She'd still be in servitude to Kiku if something happened to Lord Cho, anyway. They made it half way across the bridge when they noticed two individual standing at the other end blocking their way.

"You there, move out of the way. Lord Cho's carriage needs to make passage" the horse driver exclaimed with no success. The two individual kept standing in their path, taking to each other in a quiet whisper. After a few moment of nothing happening, someone noticed that a few more unknown persons had walked up behind them. Lord Cho's guards became uneasy and had right to be so. These unknown individuals were after Lord Cho's life. The driver tried one more time, trying to get them to move "Move out of the way or we will make y.." but never got the chance to finish. A shuriken had been thrown that struck him in the neck. His dead body was pushed aside by Cho's bodyguards as they moved to engage the hostiles.

The fight didn't last too long as these would be assassins were poorly trained compared to Lord Cho's lowly bodyguards. They were most likely some angry peasants with a bone to pick with Lord Cho. Inari spied numerous kunai and shuriken stuck into the wood of the carriage. Looks like those poor bastards were hoping that one of them would fly true and kill Lord Cho. _**What did they hope to accomplish**_ Inari wondered _**Kiku would just carry on his family's ways. You'd have to kill both of them. **_Inari's thoughts were cut off by a movement out of the corner of her eye. One of the newer servants to the house was wiggling lose a kunai from the wood. After a few seconds of wiggling, it finally came loose and the servant clutched it closely to her chest.

She looked around quickly and noticed that Inari had seen her take the kunai. The servant girl just seemed to lose it and charged Inari with the sharp knife upraised in her hand. Inari couldn't comprehend why she was being charged at, what had she done to this girl? Maybe the stress of being a servant was too much for her and she lost it. Nevertheless, she was being threatened so she decided to follow her still present ninja instincts and arm herself for defense. Inari never found out why the girl went after her because half way through the charge, the girl's eyes suddenly got wide and stopped dead in her tracks and toppled over. Sticking out right between her shoulder blade were 3 kunai.

Inari hadn't noticed Kiku's arrival but was glad that she didn't have to put the girl down. A small smile appeared on her face but was soon erased as soon as she saw the look on Kiku's face. _**What did I do this time?!**_ Inari screamed at herself and opened her mouth to defend herself "Wha.." but never got the chance to finish.**SMACK **Kiku had hit her as hard as he could. "I've had enough of your failures! You failed at being a ninja so I made you a servant and now you failed at that! That was the last straw. All my patience is gone and I just don't really care what you think!" He grabbed the kunai out of a stunned Inari's hands and looked at it crazily for a second before ramming it straight into her chest.

Inari was too busy comprehending what just happened to feel the pain she was in. She stumbled back to the bridge railing and watched as an enraged Kiku come up and stomp the kunai deeper into her chest. The already aged railing was having a hard enough time supporting the weight of a dying girl and the force of the kick was all that it needed to give way. A strange sense of weightlessness overcame Inari as the railing broke apart and enable her to tumble down to the water below. What only took a couple seconds seemed like an eternity to Inari. _**Maybe this is all just a dream…yeah….a dream. I'll wake up and find that I've been in bed this whole time. **_ She was too busy kidding herself to notice another pair of eyes watched her fall to her demise. It didn't matter because as soon as she hit the rushing water, everything went black and Inari stopped trying to kid herself.

* * *

Kiku watched as the limp body was pulled downstream by the currents before returning to his father. "Are you alright?" Lord Cho popped his head up from behind his throne, looked himself over and said "Yes, I'm fine. Those damn peasants trying to ruin my outing again. Remind me to raise taxes again once we've returned" Kiku just smiled and answered smugly "Of course" as they made their way across the bridge, over the dead bodies, and towards wherever they were heading before.

* * *

The figure in black who had seen the whole thing was having quite an argument with himself. Continue to follow them and complete the unfinished business he had with Lord Cho or be the nice guy and retrieve the body that was floating down towards him. The sun was setting and since he had been on a long trip and was hungry, he decided to go with the later._**Once I retrieve the body, I'll head back to camp and cook something up **_he thought to himself happily as the vision of hot food came to mind. Then he remembered the task at hand. _**Man, all the shit I go through to help people **_as he jumped down the cliff and waited on the rocky river bank waiting for the body to come by.

"Fuck, where the hell is it? Shouldn't it have at least gotten here already?" escaped his mouth after 5 minutes of waiting. Just when he had muttered those words, a slender body came around the bend and floated towards him, as if the gods were playing games with him. The figure in black waded out into the water and let the body drift into his arms. "Fuck, why are they always heavier than they look" as he looked down to see who he had pulled out from the icy water. He took this time to do a brief examination and was surprised that the girl was still alive. "Hmm, she's not too far gone. Her heart beats weak but there's still some life to it."

As he entered the cave that he had to slaughter a bear to get, he noticed something familiar about the girl. "Wait a minute….haven't I seen you somewhere before" and sure enough his memory had served him right. It was the same girl that he had saved at least a year ago in some random forest he was napping in. Just to make sure that she was the same one and not just a look-a-like he checked for scars and sure enough they were there. A smile formed underneath the mask he wore as he thought _**Twice I've saved your ass. Do you like getting the shit beaten out of you or something? **_He put those thoughts aside and set her down on the soft bear skin he had recently 'acquired' and placed upon the floor to serve as a bed.

The first manner of business was to remove her sopping wet clothes to prevent hypothermia and to be able to easily examine the extent of her wounds. It only took him a few seconds after beginning to become intensely aware of her being a female. She was easily more 'developed' than the last time he had seen her. _**Damn, she was hiding all of this under her clothes? **_The shock quickly disappeared as the task at hand came to mind. He did a quick examination with his own medical jutsu and prepared for a long operation. Numerous bones were broken, the right lung was punctured with a kunai, blood loss, a concussion, and to top it off, it seemed that she also had a cold.

Just sighing to himself, the figure in black rolled up the sleeves to his long black cloak and began to concentrate chakra into his hands. He knew that he could heal her but didn't know if she had the will power to continue on. He fired up his jutsu, and with nimble fingers and hands, worked into the night trying to save the life of some strange girl that now lay unconscious infront of him.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a long night, but he had finally succeeded in stabilizing the girl's condition. The small fire he had going was flickering and threatening to die on him unless he added some more wood. Some more sticks found their way into the flames as he grabbed a small amount of rations from his pack and began to make some kind of bland soup. It wasn't until after he was done eating that the fatigue of the days travels, and the surgery he had just finished, caught up to him. Not to be one to ignore a patient, he force fed the girl the small amount of remaining soup to sustain her. After that, he found a nice spot to lie down and let sleep claim him.

* * *

A week had passed and his patient had improved dramatically. She no longer slipped in and out of consciousness and was healing at a rapid pace, thanks to his healing jutsu. She still lay in the same spot that he had placed her, except for the times that she must have been having some sort of nightmares, because she'd try to move around and mutter incoherently. He'd just try to keep her from ripping her bandages and make sure that she didn't injure herself any further. The rest of the time he spent sneaking into town at night, gathering intelligence on Lord Cho's manor, so that when the time came, no one would be able to stop him.

* * *

Inari's dreams repeated the scene over and over again as if to taunt her and her weaknesses. The disbelief as she watched a demonized Kiku kick the kunai deeper into her chest. The feeling of weightlessness as she plunged into an endless abyss that could swallow worlds whole. That nightmare of a day seemed to get less real and more dreamlike everytime she saw it. But this time was different, because this time there was a little light calling out to her. That light, so warm, calling out to her, calling her by her name. Inari reached out towards the light and as soon as her hands brushed up against the glowing orb, her eyes snapped open.

_**Am I dead?**_ Inari wondered as she tried to move. _**Ah…. No… death wouldn't be this painful. Would it?**_ She turned her head to look at her surroundings, a cave of sorts with small fire burning close next to her. Inari laid her head down to fall back to sleep but a small noise from right next to her made her snap her eyes back open. She couldn't see anything else but the fire right next to her and it wasn't until she squinted her eyes that she could she a figure moving about.

"So, you're finally awake, eh?" came a deathly whisper that was somehow clearly audible. The dark figure made its way next to the fire and hunched down beside her.

All Inari saw was the featureless white mask that was staring right back at her with an undying intensity that she had felt before. Then in snapped in her mind, **_he took a contract_**, _**He works for Lord Cho.**_ As this grim realization came to mind, tears swelled in her eyes and she began to weep.

The dark figure had no idea what to do as this girl lay crying out of shear terror and misery and did the only thing that he knew how to do. He just tilted his head slightly, waited a bit, and asked "Are you done yet?"

Inari just turned her head and pleaded with the dark man, "P-please….I-I don't want to go b-back. He'll kill m-me…." And sobbed some more. "No more, I-I can't take it anymore…" just crying her heart out as this point in desperation.

"Haha…hahahaha….HAHAHAAAHAA!!! Take you back! Why the hell would I take you back?!" cackled the figure across from her.

Inari had no idea what to do; she had never seen this kind of disregard for her former master before. "B-but you work for him…._sniff_ you t-took a contract from him…"

She cringed back in fear as he drew closer "Work for him? WORK FOR HIM? HA! Don't insult me. That piece of shit can't do anything except spew forth garbage at the weaklings that follow him."

She stared back in disbelief as the dark figure rose from his position infront of her and began to walk away. Not being one to be left alone in a strange place, she asked, "W-where are you going….?"

The figure in the white masked slowly turned around to face the girl and replied in a surprisingly happy whisper "I'm out to kill someone" and turned again to leave.

"Wait!" caught his attention and turned back once more to face the girl. "Yesss…?"

She hesitated a moment before asking her question. "Just who are you?"

Chuckling to himself, he gave her a glare that could send a chill down the spine of even the most experience of shinobi. "Who? No…….but What. I am nothing but a Ghost" and disappear in an instant.

Still not believing what had just transpired, Inari laid back down to rest. At this point, all of her body ached from just having this conversation. Hoping that when she woke, everything would be better. Laughing at herself for this ridiculous wish, she fell once more back to sleep.

* * *

Not wanting to cause too much of a disturbance, the Ghost waited until nightfall to make his move. As soon as the last rays of light disappear, he moved from the edge of the village towards the center of town towards the lavish mansion. 

Getting inside was easy enough. Lord Cho's guards were lax and almost all of the servants had gone to bed. Ghost ran some more chakra through his mask and looked all around the house. Most of the heat signatures were too small to be someone of Lord Cho's size. For several minutes, the Ghost sat in the dark corners of the mansion looking for his target.

Doubts began filling his head that maybe Lord Cho wasn't here but those were put to rest as he heard faint yelling. "Now Get Out Of My Sight!" caught his attention and his head snapped to the direction that the noise came from. The Ghost saw a small heat signature moving away from one that had to be at least 3 times its size. _**I found you; you backstabbing son of a bitch **_and Ghost sprinted silently down the hallways towards his victim.

Knowing that no one could stop him now, Ghost didn't even bother trying to sneak into the room and just flung the door open. Lord Cho had his back to him lying on some gigantic cushions, resting. "I thought I told you to get out of my si…" as he turned to yell at a servant but was faced with the grim sight of a blank white mask and a black cloak.

"You!" as Lord Cho's eyes widened. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"Yeah, about that…..guess I didn't feel like dying back then" Ghost whispered as he approached the large man. He grabbed a wooden chair from the side of the room and broke off one of the legs.

"What are you going to do with that?" The fear was obvious in Lord Cho's eyes. He tried to get up, but the cushions impeded his movement.

"What? This?" as Ghost glanced at the chair leg he was holding "I'm going to show you what happened to people who think they can screw me over with fake contracts and then try to incinerate me!"

Ghost jammed the broken chair leg, like an improvised wooden steak, with almost inhuman strength through one of the legs of Lord Cho. "AAHHHH!!! YOU SICK FUCK!" screamed Lord Cho as Ghost broke off another leg of the chair.

"Now, you're going to have three chances to tell me where that inbred son of yours is, before I crucify you to the floor" Ghost said waving the chair leg in front of Lord Cho's face.

"GO TO HELL, YOU BASTARD!" He screamed and Ghost rammed another chair leg through his other leg. "AAAARRRRHHHHH!!!" This gruesome form of interrogation went on for another minute until both Lord Cho's arms and legs were pinned to the ground.

* * *

By now, Lord Cho's blood curdling screams had awoken almost the entire mansion and most of the servants had gone to see what was happening. The first servants to arrive stood in shock in the doorway, looking upon a horrid scene. A figure cloaked in black holding what seemed to be the remains of a chair in his hand. They watched in silent horror as the black figure gave a mighty swing and imbedded the chair into Lord Cho's skull. They watched as he wrote something upon the wall with their master's blood and then turned to face them; revealing a white mask and a black cloak covered with blood. Every single servant that was there took a step back as the figure slowly walked towards them. He stopped halfway and cocked his head to the side a little as he gave them all a little wave goodbye. 

They watched as the assassin disappeared into thin air and were left there standing in utter disbelief. Most of the women started to cry and whimper while only the bravest of the men stepped forth into the room. The men surveyed Lord Cho and confirmed that he was dead. Even though the man was a sick and twisted bastard, it pained them to see him dead in such an awful way. After a couple of silent minutes, the women noticed the men staring at the wall which the stranger had written something on. The women servant read what the men already had. In big, bold, bloody letters read the name "The Ghost"

* * *

It had been several hours since The Ghost had left and Inari was enjoying this time by having a nice nap when she was woken up by a loud ruckus coming into the cave.

"Get up, we need to start moving" Ghost said as he began to shove everything in the cave into a black duffel bag.

Inari had barely woken up and had no idea how to react when she was suddenly stood up by Ghost and had a black cloak wrapped around her.

"We need to leave now before they find us" he said while looking around the cave for anything he might of missed.

"Leave, why?" then it occurred to her who his target might have been. "Who did you kill?"

"Lord Cho" he said nonchalantly shoving more items into the bag.

Inari was stunned upon hearing this, not being able to comprehend this. "He's dead?! What about Kiku, he should have been there to protect his father"

"Well he wasn't, and it'd just be more trouble if he found us now" as Ghost began to remove his mask.

Inari was almost sent into shock by seeing the face under the mask. It was the same handsome scarred man that had saved her a year ago. The same man with the dead stare that had condemned her to a life as Lord Cho's slave. She was even more surprised when he smiled and gave her a slight bow.

"How do you do, I'm Kaidan or Kai for short, and right now we need to get moving", then added "You ready to go?"

A still shocked Inari took a moment to register what he was asking and then tried moving. "It still hurts all over, I'm so sore I can barely move"

A tired Kai, in a hurry to leave, felt that he only had one choice left besides just leaving the girl behind. He shifted the duffel bag to his back, sighed to himself, picked up the girl bridal style, and jumped out into the night.

A flustered Inari couldn't believe what was going on. One moment she was standing in a dark cave with nothing on but bandages and a cloak and the next she was being whisked away in a strangers arms, who, up until then, she thought dead.

"W-where are we going?" Inari said over the wind blowing past them.

Kai remained silent for a moment, then answered "Anywhere but here" as they disappeared into the dark.


	6. Chapter 6

It was their third night on the run and they were both tired, dirty, and hungry. Both Kai and Inari had trudged along for hours before finally spotting a small inn and spa that they could take a much needed rest. _The Lazy Dragon_was a small family run establishment from what they could tell as they walked inside the entryway into the lobby. They received a kind look from the elderly women from behind the counter even though they looked like a pair of filthy street urchins.

"Hello there and welcome to _The Lazy Dragon._ Are you in need of a room?" the kindly old lady asked with a smile on her face.

"Yes, oh god, yes" Kai muttered as he shifted around in his pockets and took out a small bag of money and plopped it in front of the old lady. "We'll take whatever you've got left"

"Wonderful" grinned the elderly women, snatching up the money. She plucked a key off of the wall behind her and headed down a side hall to show them to their room. "This is it, Room 12. Enjoy your stay here at _The Lazy Dragon_. The baths close soon so I suggest that you use them now." With that, the old lady smiled and left quietly down the hall.

The room itself was nice considering that they didn't pay much for it. Inari was overjoyed that she would be able to sleep in a real bed for the first time in ages and leapt upon it, rolling around on the covers. That is until she realized that the bed she was on was the only one in the room.

"Heh, sorry. I guess you'll be taking this one" she said glumly as she began to get off.

"Nonsense. You need it more than I do, no offense. And besides, I'm use to sleeping on the ground. No need to change that now" Kai said with a smile. "I'm going to take that old ladies advice and use the baths before they close and I suggest that you do as well"

"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Inari shot back.

Kai, immediately realizing his mistake, tried to cover it with "Nothing, nothing. It's just that after 2 weeks of not bathing, anyone would enjoy a nice hot bath."

After taking a quick look in the mirror, she had to agree with Kai. They were both caked with mud and grime, hair all messy and undone with hair sticking up every which way, and was pretty sure that they didn't smell like a rose garden either.

On the way to the baths, the other guests that were still up gave them uncertain glances. To everyone else, they looked like a young man with the eyes of a psychopath and a young woman that looked like a hurricane had just hit her.

Splitting up and entering the appropriate bathing areas, Inari was glad that she was the only women there. She took off her black cloak, grey servants clothes, and slowly unwrapped herself of the bandages that constricted her. It wasn't easy having a figure like her, wrapped with bandages, running about for days, and not be uncomfortable. Placing her clothing into a small washer/dryer, she grabbed a towel to wrap around herself and stepped into the steaming pool.

**_Oh my god, this is heaven_** Inari thought as she relaxed in the hot water, stretching out her sore muscles, enjoying every bit of it. As she sank deeper into the steaming pool of water, her mind drifted back to the first day she had spent with Kai.

* * *

He had been running for hours now, and at the incredible speed they were going, Inari had no idea how far they had gotten. Kai had been keeping the pace up and signs of fatigue were finally showing. Inari noticed that he was breathing heavily and that their pace was slowing down by a bit. Though it didn't seem to matter all that much because Inari had never seen anyone move so fast for such a long period of time.

After a couple more hours of traveling at breakneck speeds through the countryside, Kai finally decided to slow down and look for a place to rest. He had come upon a small clearing in the woods they were heading through and deemed it suitable for their needs. Before she could ask any questions, Kai had collapsed where he stood into a deep sleep. Not sure what to do at first, she curled up next to him, hoping that no one would find them while they slept.

Inari had been awoken with sun in her eyes and a delicious smell wafting towards her. She turned around to find a blazing fire crackling as fat dripped off into it. It seemed that while she slept, Kai had managed to catch a few rabbits and roast them above a fire he had set up. She drooled over the sight of the cooked meat that now rested in front of her.

Kai had noticed that she had woke up, he beckoned her to come join him. Having been only sustained on bland ration soup for the past week, she hungrily snatched up the food and began devouring it with tears in her eyes. To her, this meat was the first real meal she had had as a free woman in a long time. After eating in silence for a minute or two, it now dawned on her that she was sitting in a clearing with a strange man that had saved her for no apparent reason.

"Why did you save me?" she said, mouth still half full with rabbit meat.

Kai looked at her surprised. "Would you rather have me leave you there?"

"Well no but……..you didn't have to save me in the first place. Why are you doing all of this for me?" Inari asked with a determined look upon her face. "And why aren't you dead! The first time I met you, I saw you die!"

"No, you saw me get stabbed with six kunai, but you never saw me die. As for your first question, you looked like a person in need and I decided to help. Same with the second time, you were in need and I decided to help" He said, then asking one of his own questions. "That fat bastard and his son were the ones I first met when I brought you back. Why were you even with such people in the first place if they treated you so horribly? Why not just leave?"

She adverted her eyes away before answering. "I had wanted to be a ninja and my parents had taught me all that they could. After I turned 15, my parents starting looking for someone for really shinobi training and in need of some fresh blood. I needed the real life experience, so they made a deal with Lord Cho that if I swore to protect him as a ninja bodyguard, he'd have his son train me." She felt tears coming to her eyes but tried to suppress them anyway. "Things went well for a time, but then I started making small mistakes that sometimes put my comrades in danger. Every time that I made a mistake, I'd get nervous and start doubting myself, and then the next mistake would be worse than the first. The last one I had made was running away from my superior in a fight and, well………..you know how that turned out.

Kai was stunned to learn all this and leaned in to hear more of her tale.

"After you took me back, I was stripped of my rank and demoted to a common house servant. And so I remained until several days ago when Lord Cho's carriage was attacked, I almost ended up dead thanks to his son and my former sensei, Kiku." Inari sat motionless for a while, saddened by her own depressing story, not wanted to remember all that had happened.

'Then why don't you just start over?" suggested Kai "Everyone thinks you're dead anyway."

She was shocked upon hearing his proposal. Start over? She couldn't just start over, could she? Nothing was that easy.

"I could teach you a few things myself, seeing how that I am a ninja after all" Kai said smiling.

"You are? But you don't have a forehead protector" She said mentioning to his head.

"Yeah, well, neither do you" He said pointing back to her.

"Well I did, but it was taken away when I became a servant!" tears filling her eyes.

"Right, but they didn't take away all of your skills and knowledge, did they? Just because someone takes away a stupid piece of metal with some carvings on it doesn't make you any less of a ninja."

She immediately cheered up upon hearing this. "You would really do that for me? But what about you, if you're a ninja, where's your forehead protector?" but regretted saying that because she saw that he suddenly seemed to become a different person. His smile and cheeriness went away and was replaced with an almost sad expression she had never seen before.

"My circumstances are a little bit different than yours but with no less the amount of sadness. Lets just say that I can no longer go back to where I came from and because of that, I no longer needed the forehead protector." He said glumly gazing at the ground, a small look of longing on his face.

Inari wanted to dig just a little but more but was cut off by another change in mood. Kai suddenly became more cheerful and active as he began to pack up some stuff, all the while eating his food.

"You ready to go? We need to start moving just incase that there might be people coming after us."

"Mmhmm" she nodded with a newfound sense of purpose as both she and her new mentor got up. "Ahh!" escaped her mouth as she almost toppled over. She was sore as hell and could barely walk.

"Here, let me help" as Kai scooped her up into his arms once again and began jumping from tree to tree. She was glad that he was focusing on the trees instead of her so that he wouldn't notice the small blush on her face.

* * *

Snapping back to reality, she leaned back to gaze at the stars for a while. Decided that it was about time to finish up, she began to wash her long hair when a noise from next to her caught her attention. The men's and women's bath were only separated by a wooden wall was probably a little bit too aged for its purpose as it was dotted with small holes and cracks. She decided to ignore it until she heard Kai voice coming from the other side. 

"What do you want?" she heard as she made her way over to the wall and found a small crack that she could get a good view from. Inari could see the head of Kai poking out above the water, seemingly enjoying the bath as much as she was, staring back at two men who had just entered. They were large men, with muscles bulging out of their bodies, both of them holding kunai in a threatening manner.

"We want to know where all of your valuables are" the bigger of the two said.

"Yeah, yeah, and where that woman of yours is!" the second one exclaimed.

"Tell us now before someone gets hurt"

"Piss off" was all that Kai said before going back to relaxing

"HEY! We're talking to you, you fucking runt!" said the larger one she guessed to be the leader. Kai just kept on ignoring them which seemed to just piss them off even more.

"You little punk ass, who do you think you are!" screamed the second.

Kai just rinsed out his hair and replied "Leave me alone"

At this, the enraged leader hurtled his kunai toward a relaxed Kai. Inari shut her eyes and turned away as she heard the knife hit flesh. She opened her eyes and waited a moment, only to see that bloody red water had began to seep its way between the boards and into the women's bath. **_Kai!_** She turned to peak through the boards to see what had happened. The two goons were now just standing there, dumbfounded, staring back at Kai. Instead of catching the knife or dodging out of the way, he had put up his hand and let it pierce all the way through, becoming stuck between his bones in his hand.

They remained quiet as he yanked the kunai out and threw it back at them, lodging it in the side of the building, barely missing the two would-be muggers. Both Inari and the muggers watched in silent horror as he rose up out of the water with only a towel wrapped around his waist. All three of them could see that his whole body was covered with numerous scars that ranged from cuts, burns, slashes, punctures, and to what appeared to be claw marks.

When he finally spoke, Inari noticed that his voice had changed. It was no longed the cheerful tone that he normally used, but a darker, more threatening tone. "I said, Leave." They cringed, "Me." They turned, "Alone." They ran.

Moving away from the wall slowly, not being able to believe her eyes, Inari stayed motionless as she heard Kai get out of the water, get dressed and leave, shutting the door behind him. Feeling extremely uncomfortable at this point, Inari came to the conclusion that it would be a good idea to end her bath now and head back to the room. She left the bandages on the ground, putting on her freshly washed grey servant clothes and black cloak. Inari was met with the stares of gawking men as she left the bath to head to her room. The warm water had done wonders for her vanity as her skin was now gleaming, her hair straight and shining, and her figure no longer bound by the restrictive bandages. Inari felt embarrassed by all of the sudden attention she was getting and hurried off down the hall to go hide in her room but encountered Kai heading the opposite direction towards her.

"Ah, Inari, I was just heading to the bar to see if they had anything to eat. Want to come with me?"

She just nodded in agreement, trying not to look down at the hand that must have a huge hole in it. Just as they reached the lobby, they were greeted with the sight of the two large men from the bath talking to a small old man. At the sight of them, the two large men whispered something to the old man, before he began walking over towards them.

"Ah so you must be the young man from the bath. I am so sorry for what happened. My sons aren't the brightest kids in the world. I'm Mr. Takawasi, the owner of this fine establishment that I run with the help of my wife." He said motioning to the elderly lady they had met earlier. "As an apology, I'd like to treat you both to a meal and to propose a deal."

"A deal?" Kai asked suspiciously, eyeing the old man. "What do you mean?"

"All in good time, can't really talk here. But if you'd like to follow me…." Mr. Takawasi said as he walked off into one of the back rooms with his two sons in tow.

Kai turned to Inari, as if asking for her opinion. Still being a bit dazed from what had happened in the bath; she just shrugged and followed Kai and the old man.

Mr. Takawasi was sitting in a comfy looking chair as they walked in, his two sons nowhere to be seen.

"Take a seat, please" he motioned but Kai didn't move. "We'll stand thanks. Now, what is it that you want?"

"Ha, straight to business. I like that. Fine. From what my sons have told me, I would assume that you are a shinobi, correct?" A nod from Kai confirmed his suspicions. "I have a little business venture that I'd like to make but I find myself unable to do it myself and short of reliable shinobi. Sound interested?"

"Would I be working alone?" was the only question Kai asked, ignoring the obvious like _What do you want me to do? _or _How much?_

"Course not; you'd have the self proclaimed **Ghost Slayer** as your partner. Boys, if you will" Mr. Takawasi said and the door where they had entered opened once more to reveal a familiar face walking towards them.

Inari visibly tensed up and broke out into a cold sweat as Kiku stood beside them. She began thanking God that the room was poorly lit and that their faces were hidden in shadows. But Inari wasn't the only one to react to Kiku's entrance. Kai stood there smiling at his good fortune as he began ruffling through his cloak for everything he was going to need in just a moment.

"Who's the broad?" asked Kiku totally ignoring Kai. "Ah come on babe, don't be like that" as she scooted away from him. Kai took this opportunity to move in between the two, facing Inari with his back turned to Kiku.

"Who the hell are you pal?" Kiku demanded angrily.

Inari saw the smile on Kai's face as he raised his hood and dawned his blank white mask, turning back into his alter-ego known as The Ghost. She saw him pull out another mask similar to his but noticeably slimmer and more feminine. He raised her chin to take a good look at her before placing it on her face, raising her hood as well. He leaned in to whisper in her ear "Run chakra through it to see" and pulled back out. As soon the smallest amount of chakra ran into the mask, it seemed to fade away from her vision. She could tell by the small amount of weight on her face that it was still there but everything seemed to have a slight glow around it, some more than others.

"Who the fuck are you?" Kiku asked again.

"Me?" said Ghost as he turned around. Inari was glad that she could see with the mask on so that she could see the look of horror on Kiku's face.

"I am The Ghost and this here," Ghost said reaching out to take a hold of Inari, "is my new partner Gossamer."


End file.
